


boy in yellow

by badalive



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Diners, Boys in Skirts, Lee Felix (Stray Kids)-centric, M/M, Minor Bang Chan/Kim Seungmin, Minor Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Minor Hwang Hyunjin/Seo Changbin, jeongin has braces, jeongin has heterochromia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:01:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25844707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badalive/pseuds/badalive
Summary: felix met many customers, looking at them come and go but never remembering their faces nor bothering to do so. that was until a yellow dressed boy with two different eyes and braces walked in.
Relationships: Bang Chan/Kim Seungmin, Lee Felix/Yang Jeongin | I.N
Comments: 3
Kudos: 89





	boy in yellow

**Author's Note:**

> i got this idea in the middle of my seungbin fic so i thought “fuck it. let’s write it” and here it is !! i hope u enjoy djdjfjd

Felix was never one to remember faces. He worked at a diner owned by his friend, Chan and he knew that to work at a diner he had to at least remember every customer’s face during their stay at the diner. And then after they left, he could erase their faces from his mind. But Felix’s brain didn’t work like that; he never seemed to grasp what any of the customers looked like. 

Perhaps it was because he simply saw too many people each day that his mind was easily overwhelmed. It was possibly the only answer to his issue — that his brain was just too crowded with other things that it couldn’t be bothered to remember the faces of hundreds of customers. 

He didn’t let it bother him too much, though. He enjoyed working at the diner and would always brush aside his weird problem to plaster a smile on his face and warmly greet customers as he seated them to an empty booth. 

He loved the decor of the diner. It was all retro; a jukebox sat at the far right corner, always playing a song that a customer or one of the employees had chosen. The accent colour was light blue, and there were obnoxiously large neon signs hanging on some of the walls. The floor was checkered and the walls were a soft salmon colour. At the front of the diner stood a checkered counter where the register and bar was.

The only hint of modernity being the large flat screen televisions up at every corner of the place. They were always on to show the various variety shows that would go on during the day. That and the LEDs that he discovered were installed on the walls and flooring when he had accidentally walked in on Chan and Seungmin slowly dancing after hours in a purple lit room. A 1950s love song played in the background as Chan held Seungmin close to his chest, both of their eyes closed and swaying to the man’s voice. 

Felix, feeling as though he had intruded on a private moment, retreated back downstairs and went back to his room. 

Apart from giving Felix a job, Chan had also offered him a room in his basement-turned-apartment that was situated under the diner. Ever so thankful, Felix accepted the offer and considered himself lucky that he had Chan as not only a mutual, but also a friend that he could count on. 

From the start he never seemed to remember faces and it actually took him a couple months before he could remember what Chan looked like and what the rest of his friends looked like. Thankfully, they had all been patient with him and let him take his time in remembering their faces. That alone made him feel as if he had some of the greatest friends in the world. 

“Your mind is floating away again.” Chan teases from behind him, grabbing the back of his head and gently giving it a shove. 

Felix grunts, rubbing his head and looking back to look at Chan properly, “At least I’m not burning the milkshakes.” He says as he turns over to lean against the counter, “How did Jisung even manage that?” 

Chan shrugs, removing his apron and tossing it at the hamper situated by the kitchen door, “I still have no idea. Burning milkshakes is next to impossible but of course Jisung had to accidentally find a way to do just that.” 

Upon remembering the look of complete shock that was on Chan’s face as Jisung ran around the kitchen screaming due to the flames arising from the vanilla milkshakes, Felix can’t help but chuckle at the memory. 

Chan raises an eyebrow, “Why’re you laughing?” 

“Oh, nothing, it’s just funny to remember your face when you saw the vanilla milkshakes burning.” 

Chan opens his mouth to speak but then closes it again, “Y’know what, nevermind. Here —“ he tosses a rag to him “— wipe down the booths as I clean the machines.” He turns to grab another rag but pauses, “Oh, I forgot to tell you…” 

He turns back around and hands Felix the blue spray bottle, “Use the blue spray bottle only. I think the purple one is why the tables are fading out. I’m gonna have to paint that later.” He sighs and goes to clean the machines in the kitchen, and possibly to make sure that Jisung hadn’t found a way to set fire to the bread. 

* * *

Felix spent the next couple of weeks working nonstop. The diner was experiencing a surge of customers from all over the area, some even coming from across the country. It was an unusual thing, but he later found out that the traction was due to Jisung inviting people to fight him outside the diner for absolutely no reason at all. 

But once they had a bite of Chan’s food they’d immediately forget about the fight and instead order another meal. 

Chan had found the bait hilarious and had even given Jisung a one cent raise, saying that the diner would be dust without the boy bringing attention to it with his weird methods. 

Occasionally Seungmin would stop by the diner to check up on Chan and to make sure he wasn’t overworking himself. Chan was notorious within their friend group for sleeping less than 23 hours every week and somehow managing to stay alive. As his boyfriend, Seungmin took it upon himself to make sure that Chan took a nap every day and often assigned Hyunjin as the chef so that Chan would be able to nap peacefully without any fear of Jisung finding a way to tarnish any of the dishes. 

However, there were times where Seungmin stayed and cooked the dishes himself, keeping an eye on both Hyunjin and Jisung. 

Today would’ve been no different if Seungmin didn’t bring along another boy. 

Felix immediately looks up as soon as he hears the bells of the front door ring, thinking it was another customer but sighing in relief once he saw Seungmin walking towards the counter. However, there was a boy in yellow closely following him, looking at the diner with an awestruck expression on his face. 

Seungmin climbs onto a stool and the boy does the same, head still turning to look at the retro decor. 

“Hey, Lix,” Seungmin greets. He seems more lively than usual, probably because it was Chan’s day off and Seungmin had forced him to stay over at his apartment so he could sleep all day. Felix tears his eyes from the other boy and grins, “Hey, Seungmin.” 

Seungmin nudges the boy next to him, “Felix, this is Jeongin. Jeongin, this is Felix.” 

The boy turns to look at him and Felix nearly gasps. He was never one to remember faces, nor did he ever bother to do so, but this particular boy’s face immediately burned itself onto his brain. The wavy brown hair, dimples, wide smile that showed his braces, and — to tie it all together — two differently coloured eyes. One blue and the other brown, looking like a fox’s own eyes, which gave the boy a sort of uniqueness that Felix had never seen. 

Snapping back to reality, Felix bows and returns the smile, “Nice to meet you, Jeongin.” 

Jeongin giggles and returns the bow, “Likewise, Felix-ssi.” 

Felix clicks his tongue and shakes his head, “That’s too formal isn’t it? You can call me hyung, I don’t mind.” Jeongin nods, a smile still on his face and his eyes shining, “Okay!” 

Seungmin hums and hops off the stool, grabbing onto the counter to make sure he didn’t lose his balance as he did so. He wipes his hand on his pants and looks at Felix, “I’m gonna go check up on those two in the kitchen. It doesn’t seem as if you’re busy at the moment so why don’t you take a break? Co-owner’s suggestion.” 

It was true, Felix hadn’t served any tables in the past two hours and a break was what he needed at the moment. Plus, _Seungmin_ was the one suggesting it to him so how could he turn it down? 

He shrugs, “Guess it can’t hurt.” 

And so he found himself sitting in a small booth with Jeongin right across from him. They sat at the farthest corner of the diner, closer to the back entrance to the kitchen and farthest from the jukebox that was now playing a song from the early 2000s. It was an english song, one that Felix had listened to during his childhood. It would play on the radio and at times the school dances would feature the song. 

“You don’t seem like you were born here.” 

Felix immediately looks at Jeongin, “How did you —?” Nevermind, uh — yeah I guess you could say that I’m a foreigner. I’m actually from Australia and I recently moved up here for my studies.” 

Jeongin giggles, covering his mouth with a manicured hand. Felix pauses at the sight, feeling a strange but warm sensation crawl up his face and fill in his cheeks. He can’t help but like the sounds of Jeongin’s tiny giggles, feeling somewhat proud that he made him laugh a bit. 

“Sorry, Felix hyung, you’re just a bit funny to me.” Jeongin grins as he lowers his hand. Felix shakes his head and returns the smile, “It’s fine! I actually enjoyed making you laugh a bit.” 

Jeongin’s glossy lips form an ‘o’ in surprise; a blush dusts his own features and Felix figures that he likes pulling such reactions from the boy, enjoying that he could make a boy like Jeongin feel comfortable despite having met merely ten minutes ago. 

Felix chuckles and pokes his cheek, “Tell me about yourself.” 

“You just met me and now you’re asking me for my life story? At least take me out for dinner first,” Jeongin laughs. He tucks a strand of wavy hair behind his ear and hums in thought, trying to find anything interesting about him. 

“I mean, there’s not much about me that’s interesting.. I do play the piano and I love to do anything that involves being creative. I’m actually working towards my degree in Education! I’ve always wanted to be a grade school teacher.” 

“Are you kidding me? That’s so cool!” Felix exclaims, eyes wide with astonishment. “You’re going to be an amazing teacher, I can tell you that already.” 

Once again, Jeongin blushes a light pink, avoiding Felix’s gaze with a shy smile on his face. He reached down to grip his sweater with both hands and kicked his legs a bit. Felix thought it was adorable, finding himself enjoying the fact that Jeongin stimmed when shy. It was cute. 

Felix then leans over and hands Jeongin his phone, “You can give me your number or your Twitter.. so we can stay in touch! But hopefully you come by the diner sometimes…” 

Jeongin removes his hands and takes the phone, a smile ever present on his face as he types in both his number _and_ Twitter handle. Felix looks at him all the while, unknowingly smiling softly at the boy in yellow. He likes that Jeongin’s nails match his phone case, both yellow. Everything was yellow — his nails, his sweater, the sunglasses he had tucked in his front pocket, and the hair clips littered amongst his fluffy hair.

And to be frank, yellow was the perfect colour for him.

From the counter, Seungmin stares at the two with a small smile on his face. He then leans back and calls out over his shoulder, “See, guys? I told you Jeongin was perfect for him.” 

* * *

  
Several weeks had passed and it was during a peaceful evening in which Jeongin had returned back to the diner. This time, he wore a black pleated skirt that reached just above his knee paired with another yellow sweater and some converse. On his head was a beret which was hugging his brown waves. 

Felix didn’t expect to immediately recognise Jeongin as soon as he walked through the door but astoundingly, he feels the smile form on his face as he makes eye contact with the boy, waving at him from afar. 

“Jeongin-ah!” Felix calls out, “I’ve missed you.” 

Jeongin does a little run to get to the counter, the sounds of his small footsteps echoing around him as he makes his way towards Felix. He has a large smile on his face and that’s when Felix notices the Pikachu plush tucked under his arm. It’s a bit large, definitely one for cuddling with and Felix finds it quite charming that Jeongin was one to cuddle with plushies. 

Jeongin reaches the counter — placing Pikachu on it — and leans forward, grinning widely, “Lixie hyung! I missed you, too!” 

“You’re dressed all pretty today, aren’t you?” Felix asks as he hands a milkshake to Jeongin, who happily takes it with both hands and sits on the stool across from Felix. He leans his head inwards a bit to capture the straw between his lips, sucking the milkshake cutely albeit a bit quickly. 

He pulls off and nods excitedly, “Mhm! I dressed pretty for you, actually. I figured that since I was coming back to see you again I might as well dress up nicely.” He looks down for a moment, seemingly a bit unsure before looking back up, “Do you like it?” 

“Like it?” Felix throws his hands up in the air, looking at Jeongin with wide eyes, “I love it! You look so good — I mean you _always_ look good but you look extra good today! Not that you don’t look extra good all the time it’s just —!”

Jeongin breaks out into laughter, shaking his head and reaching up with his hands to gently tug Felix’s arms down. He joins their hands together, lacing their fingers and he smiles up at him, shoulders faintly shaking from laughter. His hands are soft, Felix notices, and he feels his face warming up a bit from a rising blush. 

“You’re cute,” Jeongin says. His eyes shine brightly under the neon lighting of the diner. His blue eye appears brighter to Felix, something that he has never seen happen in any one else’s eyes, and it was something that stapled itself to Felix’s brain. 

His mind pauses when he feels a pair of soft lips press against his cheek. A light feeling, but one that burns itself onto his skin. His own lips form an ‘o’ in surprise and he is positive that he could give the pink neon signs above them a run for their money. He meets Jeongin’s eyes just as the younger pulls away and Jeongin just gives him another smile, braces shining in the low light. 

Felix takes his manicured hand and presses his own lips against each of his knuckles, looking up at Jeongin as he does so. Jeongin’s own face is undoubtedly a bit pink and he has his free hand over his mouth, most likely to cover his smile. 

When Felix lets go of his hand Jeongin holds it close to his chest as if it was precious to him. And maybe it was.. although only Jeongin could answer that. 

* * *

It was late night when Hyunjin approached Felix with a sly smile, eyes twinkling with mirth. They were both in the kitchen, cleaning out any extra food that was lying about the area, placing them in a cart before Changbin took it to the dumpster right behind the diner. 

Hyunjin slowly approaches him, one foot in front of the other, the smile growing ever so slightly with each footstep. 

“You have a crush on Jeongin, don’t’cha?” He asks, tongue in cheek. Leaning forward a bit, he settles his large hand on Felix’s small one, earning a yelp of surprise from the younger and a slap to his hand. 

As Hyunjin rubs his hand, Felix scoffs and continues scrubbing down the sink, “So what if I do?” 

  
  


“And? So what if I like Felix?” 

Minho grins at the boy standing in front of him; his arms crossed against his chest in a defensive manner and he seemed a bit flustered at the mention of a crush. 

So, Minho leans towards his personal space and pinches his cheek with one hand, “It’s cute! I think it’s great that you’re putting yourself out there and getting a cute boy as soon as you meet him.” 

  
  


“Do you even know if he likes me back?” Felix inquires, giving Hyunjin a bit of sass that went unnoticed. 

Tossing a slice of pie into the bin, Hyunjin dusts his hands and inclines an eyebrow, tilting his head towards Felix with his hands on his hips. He seems rather playful, giving Felix teasing smiles as he stands right up and makes his way to the other side of the line of grills. 

Felix always had a bit of trouble in memorising Hyunjin’s facial features. Admittedly, he had some pretty features but clumped up together proved to be a bit too much for Felix to easily remember in the same time it took for him to remember Chan or even Changbin. 

He remembered first meeting Hyunjin. It was the day before his first day on the job, just a tour of the place before he settled in for actual work. He had made his way into the kitchen to check it out when he saw Jisung and Hyunjin nearly dunking each other in the sink water, arguing about fruit gummies that sat aside, next to the kettle. 

Upon Felix’s noisy arrival, the two split apart and introduced themselves. In an attempt to be polite, Felix stressed to remember their faces at that moment. He ultimately failed which led to mild confusion between who was who during the conversation they had before Chan shooed them back to work. 

He had always struggled with faces. In fact, it had taken him a few days to remember his own parents’ faces when he was a toddler. He thought of them as strangers until they had to clarify that _no, they were mommy and daddy._

The issue followed him through his school years, getting to the point where he had to take online classes because he always got lost at school. He didn’t know why he had such trouble with faces, nor did he know how to fix it. 

“Actually,” Felix starts, “You know how I’ve always had an issue with remembering faces?” 

“Yeah. It took you a solid month to remember mine.” 

“ _Besides that_ ,” he sighs, “Somehow I immediately had Jeongin’s face burned, imprinted, smacked — what have you — onto my brain. I never once forgot it even though we didn’t see each other for a couple weeks. I instantly recognised him when he walked through the door.” 

“I mean, he is rather gorgeous isn’t he?” 

Felix throws the rag in his hand, aiming towards Hyunjin’s face and humming cockily when it makes its target, “Aside from that. I don’t know what but something definitely entranced me.” 

“Maybe you should do something about that.” Hyunjin lazily replies, tossing the rag back to Felix and bending down to get the container filled with leftover greens. He quickly wafts it before grimacing and throwing it into the bin, calling out, “Changbin hyung! We’re done!” 

“Coming!” A voice shouts back, clearly from outside the kitchen. 

Felix makes a face when Changbin comes in and gives Hyunjin a kiss on the cheek before rolling the bin out. Noticing his grimace, Hyunjin smirks and leans on the metal counter, elbows resting on the cold surface, “Don’t make that face~ You’ll be doing that with Jeongin soon enough.” 

He leans up and takes off his apron and hair net, letting his dirty blond hair fall down, “Felix, let me tell you that the way Jeongin acts around you tells me that he definitely feels something for you. I mean, no one else looks at you as if you’ve hung the universe up for them.”

“You’ve noticed that?” 

Hyunjin smiles, “Honey, I was once you.” 

* * *

It isn’t long before Felix caves in and invites Jeongin over to the diner after hours to hang out. He’s nervous but he manages to clean up the place just in time to get ready himself. He throws on some clothes that he wouldn’t wear to work such as a black cardigan and a simple black turtleneck paired with some ripped black jeans and some shoes he found under his bed. The outfit is simple, though comfortable and quite stylish.

He hears the bells at the front door jingle and shoots out of his spot on the sofa to run upstairs. He opens the door and finds Jeongin standing right in front of it, a familiar smile present on his face. 

He tilts his head and picks invisible lint off Felix’s cardigan, “Well this is new. I’ve never seen you dressed like this.” 

Felix takes his hand, chuckling a bit at the comment, “I don’t usually wear these things to work. Chan prefers button up shirts to give off more retro vibes.” 

“Well I like you better in your natural fashion.” 

Felix blushes at this, and takes a moment to look over Jeongin’s own attire. He’s wearing a striped long sleeve shirt with white overalls spotted all over with what seemed to be paint. To tie it together, he has some Mary Janes on with white socks underneath. It’s a cute outfit overall, and Felix can’t help but smile at the difference between their clothing. 

He laces their fingers together and gently tugs him, “Come on, let’s go downstairs.” 

Jeongin looks at the plain walls, “You’re not leading me into a sex dungeon are you?” He asks as they descend down the stairs, the light fades a bit as they continue going downward. Felix has to suppress a laugh before he accidentally lets it out and he trips on a wooden step. 

“No, I’m not. So don’t worry your pretty mind that much, okay?” 

“ _That_ much?” 

Felix hums in affirmation, “I mean you are worried about leaving a nice impression on me, aren’t you?” 

“I’ll push you down these stairs.” 

This time Felix laughs, throwing his head back and shaking it, “Do it. There’s only a step left so it won’t hurt!” Jeongin huffs behind him and squeezes his hand for a moment, “Is this the legendary apartment under the diner that I’ve heard all about?” 

Felix thinks back to their Twitter conversations. The late night type of conversations where it ended up with Felix staying up until two in the morning nearly wheezing his lungs out. Those types of conversations. 

He had told Jeongin of the underground apartment, of how spacious it was and how it was never too hot nor too cold inside. He told him about how big the rooms were and how each had their own en-suite bathroom. Just like he was, Jeongin was also astonished to learn that such an apartment like that was hidden under a small diner. 

When he opens the door and pulls Jeongin in, he doesn’t think twice about the gasp that leaves his lips. 

It was his initial reaction as well when Chan had first brought him down to the apartment. It was too clean and too modern to belong under a retro place such as the diner and for Chan to have built it all out of his own wallet was impressive. 

Felix leads Jeongin to the sofa by the large television and doesn’t let go of his hand until Jeongin is fully seated on it. Then, he goes to the television and pulls out the remote:

“Netflix?” 

Jeongin raises an eyebrow, “You brought me here for Netflix and chill?” 

Turning on the television and sitting next to the boy, Felix bites back a wheeze and instead says, “No dummy. I brought you here because I enjoy your company and I want to watch a movie with you.” He says as he scrolls through the movie section, “Now what do you want to watch, prince?” 

Jeongin hops closer to his personal space, putting his chin on Felix’s shoulder, “Uhh, _Coraline_.” 

Felix presses twice and settles against the sofa, Jeongin readjusts himself so that he’s leaning against him with his head on his shoulder and Felix slips an arm around his shoulders. 

Halfway through the movie Felix feels as if he’s being watched so he turns his head and finds Jeongin looking at him with a soft gaze. 

Felix takes in Jeongin at that moment; blue and brown eyes shining, a light blush on his cheeks, wavy hair falling over his eyebrows and slightly obscuring his eyes.. he’s beautiful. Felix could never forget Jeongin’s delicate features; from his unique eyes to his soft, pink lips — everything was imprinted onto his brain from the moment he first laid eyes on him. 

He leans forward a bit, pausing but then deciding ‘fuck it’ and captures Jeongin’s pretty lips with his own. 

There’s a squeak of surprise from Jeongin but when he wraps his arms around Felix’s neck and drags him down Felix knows that it was a good surprise. They end up positioned with Felix hovering over Jeongin as they continue to kiss, the movie long forgotten and playing as background noise. 

For a first kiss, it was pretty sensual. 

Felix pulls away and stares at Jeongin once more. His hair is strewn out, fanning all over the sofa and out of his forehead. His eyes are absolutely gorgeous, shining impossibly bright in the dim light with his now swollen pink lips parted slightly as he pants. He’s indisputably breathtaking, and Felix feels tears gather at his lash line. 

Jeongin’s face morphs into one of concern, “Lixie?” 

Upon hearing his voice, Felix falls forward and hides his face in the crook of Jeongin’s neck, sniffling a bit as he says, “You’re the first face I’ve been able to remember since day one.” 

Jeongin wraps his arms around him and runs his fingers through his hair. There’s no doubt that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, but Felix can explain that to him later. At the moment, he just wants to comfort him. 

Felix is so, so thankful for Jeongin. So thankful for being the first face he immediately recognised and for being such a sweetheart to him. It was safe to say that the boy in yellow broke Felix’s ‘curse’. 

* * *

  
The next day, everyone crowds around Seungmin as he shows off a large engagement ring. The diamond is undoubtedly heavy, but Seungmin wears a wide smile on his face and excitedly says, “I’m getting married, bitches!” 

He then looks at Jisung and holds out his hand, “You lost the bet. Hand over the money.” 

Minho raises an eyebrow in question as a grumbling Jisung hands over 60 bucks to a grinning Seungmin. “What did you two bet on?” 

“We bet on who would propose first. I said Chan and Jisung said you.” He counts the money and nods once he sees that there is in fact 60 dollars in his hand. “Don’t look at me like that, Sungie! It’s all on Minho hyung~” 

Chan kisses his temple and giggles at his fiancée, “Not to divert our thunder but Felix.. is that Jeongin’s hand you’re holding?” 

At this, Jeongin blushes and hides his face in Felix’s neck. Felix chuckles at his boyfriend and nods, “Yeah, we’re dating. But that’s not important right now — you’re _engaged_!” 

Crossing his arms across his chest, Chan looks off into space, a proud expression on his face, “When you get someone as pretty as Seungmin, you have to put a ring on him.” Blushing, Seungmin slaps his forehead and groans, hiding his face in Chan’s shoulder. 

Felix looks at his boyfriend, “Jeongin-ah how do you feel about getting engaged right now?” 

“Give me about two years, hyung.” Jeongin replies, rolling his eyes. 

**Author's Note:**

> when hyunjin tells felix that he was once him, he means that he was once in felix’s shoes which alludes to the fact that jeongin and hyunjin had a past fling
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/hyunlovs)


End file.
